Memory Alpha:AOL chats/Ronald D. Moore/ron128.txt
Subject: Answers Date: Mon, Jan 18, 1999 15:14 EST From: RonDMoore Message-id: <19990118151455.28769.00000303@ng152.aol.com> Hi, and a belated Happy New Year to one and all. We've just begun shooting episode #18 today and we're right in the thick of the last mad run for the logo. The last few shows are coming together really well and the writing/producing staff is pretty jazzed at this point. Also, I just wanted to say "thank you" to the many fans who've filled my e- mail box to overflowing with very kind words about "It's Only a Paper Moon." I was very proud of the show and it's very encouraging to read comments from so many of you who were touched by the show. I don't usually get this many responses to an episode and I just wanted to say I appreciate it and that I'm sorry I can't response to each of you individually. Thanks again. Now on to some way-overdue answers -- <> We don't have one planned, but it could still happen. <> I wouldn't feel too secure if I were any Weyoun. <> The other actor in question will usually stand off-camera and feed the lines to the actor on-camera, but sometimes this duty will fall to our script supervisor or one of the assistant directors. <> I think it's a great idea and I hope that someone, somewhere, deep in the bowels of Paramount Licensing already has this in the works. <> There is no indication that any DS9 movies are planned. <> You'll be seeing a lot of Kai Winn in the future. <> It felt good while it lasted. At least we got beat by the World Champions (and probably the next Champs as well -- although those Dirty Birds were pretty impressive yesterday!) <> As far as I know, there are no discussions underway for any new Trek series on the Paramount lot. (Or off the lot, for that matter.) <> He will appear in several. <> At the moment, Michael is scheduled to direct episode #21. <> We have someone in mind, but it's not official yet. <> We're not going to play a quest for sentience with Vic. We decided that raising some questions about his abilities in "Paper Moon" was as far as we wanted to go, especially given the fact that Voyager already has a character on this sort of journey. Vic was designed with a certain self-awareness built into his matrix, but I was very careful in "Paper Moon" to keep him on the other side of the holographic line, so to speak. <> Yes, and it was a pain in the %$#. We had to drop several other film clips before settling on "Shane" because of the difficulty involved with getting releases from dead actors' estates and so on. Although Paramount owns both "Shane" and "The Untouchables" we still had to negotiate payments to all the actors appearing in the clips along with the stunt players. (Interestingly enough, the writers and the directors weren't a problem, they simply got flat fees and didn't even get the chance to say no.) <> I knew it was only a matter of time before the "Bring Back Kira's Heels Brigage" made a reappearance. I'll get right on this. <> It seems curious that some of you out there don't consider song to be a legitimate tool of drama. The songs in "Paper Moon" weren't just chosen at random, you know. If you listen to the lyrics, you'll find that each one has something to say about the episode and something to say about Nog and his predicament. There's nothing wrong with using music and song to tell part of a story. Using a balladeer or a crooner as a character within a tale may have fallen out of fashion in contemporary entertainment, but there's actually a very long tradition in story-telling of having a character who comments on the drama through song. Having Vic show up occasionally and musically comment on our characters is a great tool and it was even nicer to be able to use him for an entire episode. <> I, too, worship at the altar of the Holy Martini and was somewhat horrified as well. Turns out they didn't have the proper glasses on the set at the time... oh, well... even the best shows have some flaws... <> Although we did talk about Quark using/abusing Vic for profit, we eventually decided not to go that way. I think that Nog probably pays for the holosuite out of the same slush fund maintained by Sisko which allows O'Brien to pay off his hefty bar tab. <> We have one more full-on holosuite show involving Vic called "Badda-bing, Badda-bang," which will be our last comedy of the year. After this one, it's all-ahead full and driving for the finale. <> Crazy. Hope someone from "The Experience" is reading this... <> Naren, I am happy to say, has done quite well in his post-Trek career. He did a brief stint on "seaQuest" before moving on to "The Outer Limits" and he's been a writer/producer there for three or four years now. <> That is correct. I can't wait to see how it turns out -- but I'm very much aware that Brannon and I weren't the only writers involved in this one and it's hard to say at this point how much of our material will make it into the finished product. <> The Heaven's Gate incident definitely influenced our thinking during the development process, but the show was not designed specifically to be a response to it. The inspiration for "Covenant" grew out of our discussions about Dukat and his interaction with the pagh-wraith in "Tears of the Prophets." <> You will definitely be seeing more of Kasidy and her relationship with Sisko is going to take some interesting turns... <> The flashbacks which showed Nog being shot were lifted directly from "AR-558." The sequences of Nog hearing Bashir tell him about his leg and listening to the Vic song were shot specifically for "Paper Moon." <> There's more to come between these two. <> I don't think so. <> He talks all the time. Check the volume control on your TV. <> I'm sure there're a few, but no organized group still exists. <> Yes. <> No. <> Yes, in "The Emperor's New Cloak." <> We have no plans to follow up on this plot thread from "Insurrection." <> I don't know how either project will affect the calculus of the Parmount executives, but if they asked me (and they won't) I think they should hold off the next feature for at least three or four years and allow a hunger to build among the fans. Let them start screaming "WHEN are they going to do another film?!" <> I had wanted to do a story about Jadzia's family for a long time, but we never had one that grabbed anyone's attention. The story in "Prodigal" wouldn't have worked for Jadzia, largely because the specific family situation would've rang false with her (I can't see Jadzia having a similar relationship with her mother and brothers). <> I've read some of the comments, and I'm not happy with "Covenant" either, frankly. I don't think we structured the show correctly and I think it's the weakest one of the year so far. However, given where we're going with the character of Dukat, "Covenant" was quite necessary for him and it'll all make sense in the end. <> There was a line in "Prodigal Daughter" where Ezri refers to the fact that her father makes it his business to stay away from home for long periods of time because of some unnamed conflict with Ezri's mother. However, the show was long and we cut the line in the editing process. <> It's just a rumor. Moore, Ronald D.